December 21st, 2008 12:58pm
GilbertoSilver
Win and the gap to the top is five points. Lose and it’s eleven.
Perhaps even more pressingly, defeat today and on Boxing day would see us seven points behind rivals for fourth place Aston Villa.
It’s a crunch fixture at critical time. And I’m oddly confident.
Perhaps it’s because Liverpool have never won at the Emirates, or perhaps it’s because I expect our players will be motivated to avenge the Champions League Quarter-Final defeat of last season. Whatever it is, I feel fairly certain our players will perform today. Maybe I, like many of those players, simply find it easier to get up for the big games.
Samir Nasri is likely to return on the left, and I personally think Arsene will continue with Denilson on the right with Song and Cesc in the centre. On his return to the Emirates Stadium, I fully expect Emmanuel Eboue to come on and score seven. That might get the fans of his back. (Might.)
Arsene is in bullish mode ahead of the game:
“I can understand the critics who say we are not in the title race, and it is part of my job to make the second half of the season better. I have analysed what we have done and what others have done, and it makes me believe that we can be at the top again soon. So many people are questioning my team, but I have every faith in them. Technically, they still have it all. All we need is to pass the ball better in the final third of the pitch.”
I find that last sentence remarkable. With our ineptitude at the defensive side of the game, it seems extraordinary that Arsene feels it is in the final third we require improvement.
However misguided that may be, perhaps it explains Arsene’s reported interest in Andrei Arshavin. The story was born in The Mail, who are actually usually pretty spot on when it comes to our transfer dealings. I remember they were the first/only paper to report that we were close to signing Jens Lehmann, and they were also the first to reveal David Dein’s meetings with Del Nido to discuss signing Jose Reyes. At the time that signing seemed as unlikely as Arshavin’s does today.
Whilst Arshavin isn’t exactly top of the list of players we need, he’d be a better wide man than Denilson, and better support striker than Diaby. Alongside a couple of defensive reinforcements, his addition would be an exciting one.
Anyway, for now it’s just speculation. Today is all about three points against Liverpool and the truly hateful Rafael Benitez (I refuse to call him Rafa – it’s too close to endearment).
Like I said, I’m worryingly confident. Come on Arsenal.
December 20th, 2008 12:34pm
GilbertoSilver
I don’t know what to talk about today. Because I can’t help but feel my “Liverpool Preview” or what have you ought to be tomorrow. I guess I’ll just run over the tidbits that came out of Arsene’s pre-match press conference yesterday.
After we drew Roma in the Second Round of the Champions League, Arsene called the tie “50:50”:
“Roma are back to form now and maybe are the best team in Italy at the moment. So it will be interesting.
They are a team where you want to defend very well. It would have been a bit the same to have drawn Barcelona, because they play the same type of football as Roma.”
I’m not sure it’s quite the same as drawing Barcelona, and however well Roma are doing we’re probably favourites to progress. Anyway, it’s such a long way off now that Roma’s current form is somewhat of an irrelevence.
Arsene says he will spend any money that’s made available “in a wise way”. Hopefully he means he’ll be nodding sagely and quoting ancient Chinese proverbs (whilst splashing shed-loads of cash).
The manager insists he does not know the reasons for Nina Bracewell-Smith’s departure, but rightly suggests it will have no impact on the team. You can see why he makes the following point:
“What is important in a football club is the directors do not speak about footballing technique and that I do not speak about shares.”
But I’m not sure he’s quite right, particularly in the case of one Ivan Gazidis, who I’m expecting to have a significant impact upon arrival.
That’s all I’ve got for you today. No big four teams play today. West Ham did us a favour at Chelsea last week, though beating Aston Villa today would arguably be more directly helpful.
December 19th, 2008 03:16pm
GilbertoSilver
Arsenal will face AS Roma in February, with the first leg to be played at the Emirates Stadium before an exciting trip to the Stadio Olimpico. Those games take place on the same nights as Manchester United’s blockbuster clash with Inter Milan, so you do sort of wonder if the press will even remember to report on them.
It has to be considered a good draw as Danny Fiszman, present at the draw in Nyon, points out:
“We have a good record against Roma, Thierry (Henry) scored a hat-trick there some six/seven years ago, so we are pleased with the draw.
It’s the old cliché ‘there are no easy games’ and it isn’t an easy game, but you have to look beyond how strong or weak the team is – they’re all strong – and we looking purely at logistics.”
Roma are extremely motivated in the Champions League this season because the final takes place in their very city. Hopefully it will be us who return to Rome in May as well as February.
Fiszman was also keen to point out that funds will be available for Arsene Wenger in January:
“There are some funds available if he wishes to spend but, as always, the decision is his.”
Whilst that’s good, all is clearly not well at board level. After being forcibly removed from the board, Lady Nina-Bracwell Smith has hit out:
“I’m in total shock and very upset about the appalling way I have been treated. The board have no manners whatsoever and my views were ignored on many occasions.
I can’t understand why I have been removed in such a ruthless fashion. I had no intention of selling my shares and was no threat to the lockdown agreement between the directors. I have also had no proper explanation as to why they wanted me out so much.
It is very difficult to accept, especially after what my family has done for Arsenal for so many years. I am extremely upset at what’s happened and the way it has been done.  I’ve never had a thought of selling my Arsenal shares and I still don’t.”
It wouldn’t surprise me if the Chairman and the board saw things very differently. And it wouldn’t surprise me if the truth lies somewhere between two such accounts. Quite honestly, at this stage I still know very little about this situation, but I can only say that I don’t think the board would run the risk of losing Bracewell-Smith unless they were very confident about their ability to safe-guard the club against the threat of takeover.
More tomorrow.
December 18th, 2008 01:35am
GilbertoSilver
This week Arsene Wenger answered questions from the fans as part of an online webchat. Here are some transcripts of the questions and answers I thought might interest you:
Which player do you most regret not signing?
Well there are many… many many many. We spoke about Ronaldo who nearly signed here… Ribery, Makelele… Because the number of top players is restricted, you know them, and in the end it’s always down to ‘are you first?’, ‘are you spending a little bit less money?’, and we lost a few cases with Chelsea because at that time they were very very rich. And as well there are some players we missed because we had some doubts about them.
Ronaldo is a massive one, but we don’t feel guilty about that, because we did our job very well: we were on the case, very close, we were the first and in the end Man United had an agreement with Sporting Lisbon because they had a partnership.Â
Whilst missing out on Ronaldo is no news to us, failing to sign Franck Ribery is something we haven’t neccessarily had confirmed before. I believe it was close to happening in the Summer of 2006, but a fee couldn’t be agreed with Marseille. It’s a shame, because Ribery has gone on to prove his class with Bayern Munich and is probably way out of our price-range now.
How do you compare this team with the team that won the league in 2004?
That team in 2004 was of course special, but funnily I believe that this team is not very far, and can get there as much as the team in 2004. That’s the question you want to answer in the next month – not only to show that we have potential, but show that we can respond to the expectation level for our fans – I believe we can. But at the moment my regret is that we swim a little against the stream because we do not feel that around the team there is the same belief as we have inside. We can understand that, we can take that on board, because we lost some games we should not have lost. But we have a few months in front of us to show that we are right to believe in our strengths and that we can be compared to the teams of such quality in 2004 and maybe even aim to be stronger.
The belief I have in this team is not shared by the immediate people who love this club. That’s why I work very hard to convince everybody that we have the ambition, the motivation and the quality to achieve that.
When answering this question, Arsene seemed a little bit annoyed what he perceives as a lack of support from “the immediate people who love this club” – us, the fans. But Arsene must see why. Booing is a step too far, but blind faith won’t win any trophies.
Which position will Jack Wilshere end up in and why?
I believe he will end up as a central midfielder behind a striker. The ‘Bergkamp role’ – he can play maybe a little bit deeper, but you need as well to have the ball in midfield, so he might play a little bit behind the striker, just off the striker, you know? Because I am convinced that he will have a tremendous power… penetrative power – we forget that this boy is only 16! You give him four more years… he is a very strong boy, and I believe he can penetrate, he can give a final ball, and he can score goals aswell. And he’s a passionate guy, he’s a committed one; not afraid of tackles; you would want these players to finish central.
I don’t think that Jack will ever be tall, but he will be very strong, very very strong. We have a good comparison with players of his own age – he’s so strong in terms of pure power, pure force, pure strength, that you imagine that in four more years this boy will be massively strong.
He is comparable to Rooney. I wouldn’t like to put too much pressure on him – that’s one of the basic problems you have when you’re talented and very very young – Theo Walcott went through that at the start – there’s a lot of enthusiasm at the start and then suddenly they say ‘Oh, he’s not as good as he thought he would be’, and there’s a lot of scepticism around the player, and then he has to survive at the top level and it’s not easy. But Theo dealt well with that and I’m confident we can surround Jack well enough to deal with it.
From the above, we can probably conclude that Jack is some kind of superhero. I hope we see more of him in the FA Cup.
Do you intend to buy in the January transfer window?
At the moment I am more to develop the team that we have because I feel when you look at our players most of them are under-21 players and there’s a lot to come from them. That’s why if it appears that we can make something special… at the moment I must sincerely say we have not seen anything special that can convince us we will be much stronger, so I cannot say that something will happen… but you never know.
Sometimes a signing can give an extra belief to the squad, and it can help even if on the pitch it’s not that convincing. We don’t reject it, but we cannot say for certain it will be done.Â
We have gone with a policy that we have to respect, and the solution is not to go out and buy every time you do not have what you want, because you destroy the work you have done so far. I believe we have a young team, a club in a very good shape – we have a very good financial situation… that is suddenly quite important – and I believe that what you want with a young team is for your fans to be behind them, and give you the extra something special that you do not have when you have not won yet.Â
Please let this just be pre-window rhetoric. And again with a little elbow in the rib of the fans, eh?
Would you rather win the league of the Champions League?
It’s difficult to choose. very difficult to choose. We want to win one of the two, no matter which it is.
Arsene couldn’t really answer this, could be? If he said the Champions League (which I suspect is the realistic answer, for this season at least), he’d be slated for not showing the required ambition in the league.
Can Abou Diaby claim a spot in central midfield?
Yes. He has all the ingredients; physical, technical – but at the moment, not tactical. I believe in his mind he is more an offensive player, not a defensive player. And that technical defensive awareness is more in Denilson, say, or Song at the moment.   Diaby is more interested in going forward and making a difference going forward… but we try to develop that in him and he has the ingredients to become a central midfielder.
How do you develop that in him?
By working on it, he’s conscious of that… but I believe also you have to choose a position for a player where he feels completely comfortable and is suited to his psychological profile… and if you place somebody against his deep desire, he can never be completely himself.
I can’t help but come away from that wondering what exactly the point in Diaby is. He’s not a winger, but he’s not a midfielder. What is he? Maybe he doesn’t see himself as a defensive player, but a look at his passport will see his profession listed as ‘footballer’ not ‘attacker’. If he wants to make a career for himself, he has to get his priorities in order.
Who is the most improved player this season?
Maybe Song… Song and Djourou are at level that was not completely expected by everybody… Denilson as well… of course it’s always younger players, but they have made a big step forward.
Big up yourself, Song. Wenger’s faith in you is clearly undying. <cries>
Anyway, there is other news. Potentially significant news. The Board has been restructured, and Lady Nina Bracewell-Smith has departed. As the Chairman points out, this means she is not exempt from the ‘Lockdown’ agreement, and is free to sell her shares.
Now, I can’t pretend to know much about the truth behind Lady Nina’s departure (yet), but it wouldn’t surprise me if it was linked to her desire to cash in – with Alisher Usmanov a likely buyer. If that were to happen, it would immediately trigger an automatic offer for the rest of the shares in the company, and the club would face its more serious takeover proposition to date.
Hm. Wait and see, I guess. More on this in the next few days.
December 17th, 2008 01:05am
GilbertoSilver
Fans had turned out at Underhill in droves hoping to witness the man who is charged with saving our season. He’s fought his way back from the brink of retirement and now he is ready to take on the world. As he took his first steps on to the pitch, the atmosphere was electric. This is it: a new dawn, a new beginning.
Yes, that’s right. Amaury Bischoff came on.
Joking aside, last night was all about Eduardo. The Croatian played 45 minutes in a 2-0 win and looked as good as one could possibly hope. A few more games under his belt and he’ll be ready for first-team action.  His return is a testament to the hard work that he and the medical staff have put in, and the first time he puts the ball in the net again would take the roof off the Emirates – if it had one.
Eduardo was part of a strong Reserve side captained by young Gavin Hoyte, who has just signed a new long-term deal with the club. One would expect that to be followed by a loan move to a Championship club in January.
The goals last night came from two other potential loanees: Mark Randall, who tucked home after a delicious through-ball from Fran Merida, and Kieran Gibbs, who smashed in an effort from the edge of the area after a cut-back from the impressive Jack Wilshere.
Arsene Wenger seems to have given an interview to France Football, drips and drabs of which are now appearing in translation in the English press. Speaking about summer signing Samir Nasri, he has expressed his concern at the number of injuries the midfielder has already suffered:
“Samir is a mix of [Robert] Pires and [Alexander] Hleb. I told myself that signing him could prove a positive gamble. But he picked up many injuries, too many! You tell yourself that if the guy was always with us, he would bring us a lot, but for the moment he has only been there half of the games, and fits and starts are bad for high level football.
The partnership with Clichy has developed, but we are still far from what can be produced because he is too often absent.â€
It is concerning, but it oughtn’t surprise us – Wenger confesses Nasri was a gamble (albeit a £13m one), and he had struggled with health and fitness whilst at Marseille. If he could only get a decent run of games together, I’m sure he could be a massive player for us.
Le Boss says that “on a human level”, Gallas-gate was the biggest challenge he has faced as Arsenal manager. Would it be churlish to say that it was a problem of his own making? Well then call me Mr. C Hurlish of 10 Churlish Street.
Yesterday, Arsene took part in a webchat on ArsenalTVOnline. Somehow, I conspired to miss it, but unless the questions were as heavily censored as a political debate on Russia TV, it’s logical to assume he was asked about the current state of the squad and his desire to improve it. If/when a transcript of that ‘chat’ emerges, it could prove to be interesting. Did anyone catch it? Drop me a line if so.
Elsewhere, Lassana Diarra is reported to be on the verge of an £18m move to Real Madrid. Wonder how Arsene might respond to a question about that.
“Whoops”?
